More From Chateau du Tariquet: Les Domaine Grassa and Cask Strength Armagnacs

A few weeks ago I tasted the XO and blanche Armagnacs from Chateau du Tariquet. I liked them but mentioned that it would be interesting to try the cask strength expressions. Well, Chateau du Tariquet heard my cries and sent me samples of a number of additional samples including three cask strength samples. (Hmm, why doesn't it work this way with whiskey. Have I mentioned how "interested" I would be to try the Balvenie 50?) In any case, here they are:

First the non-cask strength offering,

Chateau du Tariquet Les Domaines Grassa, 40% abv ($36)

This brandy is made from 60% ugni blanc and 40% baco grapes. The youngest brandy in the vatting is four years old.

The nose on this one reminds me of malt whiskey, a fruity, floral malt, but very malty. The palate retains some of those malty characteristics with fruit only around the edges. It's dry throughout and just a tad spicy in the finish. Very pleasant stuff, certainly worth trying and a good deal for the price.


Now the cask strength line (keep in mind that single distilled Armagnac has a much lower cask strength than whiskeys do). All of these are made from 100% folle blanche grapes, and they come in at 8, 12 and 15 years old. It is nice to see both cask strength expressions and age statements on French brandies as both are rare.


Chateau du Tariquet 8 year old, 51.1% abv ($43)

The nose has an almost Canadian Whisky like quality to it, with oak and a touch of medicinal sweetness. The palate has similar qualities, sweet medicine. It really is very Canadian tasting, so much so that if I had tasted blind, I might have identified this as a Canadian Whiskey (albeit one of the better ones, like Forty Creek). The finish has a short burst of fruit followed by candy sweetness.


Chateau du Tariquet 12 year old, 48.5% abv ($50)

The nose on this is light and spicy. The palate has some nice spice and ends with pepper and just a touch of melon. The spice lasts into the finish.


Chateau du Tariquet 15 year old, 46.8% abv ($56)

The nose is spicy with white wine notes. The palate is fruity with some of those malty notes I got in the Les Domaine Grassa. The finish is malty and just a tad bitter.


While all of these Armagnacs were pleasant and none was offensive, I found them all to be fairly one dimensional. There is just not that much going on in each expression. They are less spicy than many Armagnacs I've had and tend to take on a more whiskey type characteristic in chameleon like fashion, but they lack any complexity like so much Glenmorangie 10. Perhaps that is a result of the 100% folle blanche composition. The 8 year old was my least favorite, but I'm not a huge Canadian Whisky fan. I may have preferred the Les Domaines Grassa, at a lowly 80 proof, to the cask strength offerings. It had a nice malty character and would be good to sip on a warm summer day.

Chateau du Tariquet Armagnac

Word is apparently out that some crazy whiskey blogger is reviewing Armagnacs as I've started to receive unsolicited samples. As I always say, it's never too late to sell out. Today I'll be reviewing two samples I received from Chateau du Tariquet. Tariquet is a large grower/producer located in the Bas-Armagnac region. They use new, lightly toasted, fine grain barrels for the first few years of aging, presumably then transferring the spirit into used barrels. The label implies, but does not state outright, that coloring is not used (noting that the light color of the brandy is due to the lightly toasted oak barrels...and not caramel?).


Chateau du Tariquet XO, 40% abv. ($60)

The Tariquet XO is made from 60% ugni blanc and 40% baco grapes. The "100 years" statement on the bottle refers to the age of the chateau, not the age of the Armagnac in the bottle; the youngest brandy in the bottle is 15 years old.

The nose has a very light spice to it. The palate has more fruit than I've tasted in other Armagnacs along with some chocolate, then the spice comes in, but it's still very subtle. The finish is fruity with a tinge of bitterness (not in a bad way). This is more similar to a Cognac than the Armagnacs I've tasted recently, having more fruit and less spice than some of the bolder Armagnacs. While it's not overly complex, it's very sippable and pleasant. At cask strength, I bet this one would be really stunning. (Tariquet does make some cask strength expressions).


Chateau du Tariquet Blanche Armagnac, 46%

Blanche Armagnac, much like white whiskey, is a recent development. The category was created in 2005 for unaged spirits (all other Armagnac is required to be aged in oak barrels for at least one year). Blanche Armagnac, literally "white Armagnac," may not be aged in oak but is required to be stored in inert containers (glass or steel, for example) for three months. The Tariquet Blanche is made from 100% folle blanche grapes (though the concept of "Blanche Armagnac" shouldn't be confused with the "folle blanche" grape). I haven't seen this on the shelves yet, so I don't know what the retail price is.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I'm not a fan of white whiskey, and I'm not sure that I feel any differently about unaged brandy. Smelling this, it's indistinguishable from white whiskey. Nosing blind, I would definitely have guessed that it was a white whiskey of some sort. The palate, though, gives it away as a brandy; it's sweeter than whiskey with some fruit notes beginning to develop late in the palate. The finish is my favorite part, with some very distinct raisin notes and some mulled wine on the nose. It's not at all bad for what it is; I actually like it better than most white whiskeys, but, well, that isn't saying much. It's always educational to try unaged versions of spirits, but I've never understood the urge to buy them. If you're into unaged spirits or mixology, though, this would be a good choice.


From these two samples, Chateau du Tariquet has definitely piqued my interest. I may track down some of their cask strength brandies to see how they measure up at full strength.